According to a statement from the Policía Nacional de Colombia and Homeland Security Investigations, Mueller was detained upon his arrival in Medellín. He is alleged to have used social media to contact victims, offering them “gifts in exchange for sexual encounters in rented apartments.” A joint investigation revealed evidence of two instances of sexual exploitation involving minors over the last two years. Authorities also identified 33 prior entries into Colombia by Mueller.

¡𝗩𝗔𝗡 𝟭.𝟵𝟵𝟳 𝗣𝗘𝗗𝗢́𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗢𝗦 𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗢𝗦! En Medellín, en desarrollo de la ofensiva contra el multicrimen y el delito, la @PoliciaColombia, en coordinación con la @HSI_HQ de Estados Unidos, capturó al ciudadano estadounidense Sthepen Paul Mueller, por el delito… pic.twitter.com/reY9i2ERA8

— Mayor general Carlos Fernando Triana Beltrán (@DirectorPolicia) September 13, 2025

Major General Carlos Fernando Triana Beltrán, director of the Policía Nacional, stated, “Mueller was captured when traveling to the Antioquia capital, where he would contact victims through social networks, offering them gifts in exchange for sexual encounters in rented apartments.” The investigation was a collaborative effort between the Policía Nacional, HSI-Arizona, Migración Colombia, the SIJIN (Dirección de Investigación Criminal e INTERPOL), and the DIPRO (Dirección de Protección y Servicios Especiales).

Medellín’s mayor, Federico Gutiérrez, affirmed the city’s commitment to combating exploitation. “In the operation, technological material with key information for new actions against ESCNNA was seized. We will continue relentlessly in the defense of our boys and girls, with the support of national and international agencies,” he said. During the operation, a laptop, two USB drives, and a cell phone were confiscated.

In a separate but related development, a US fugitive named ‘M. Peck sought a “million-dollar robbery” in Las Vegas, and other outstanding charges in Miami were located in Medellín. The fugitive was identified through intelligence and surveillance operations.

The apprehension was the result of a coordinated effort involving Migración Colombia, the SIJIN of the Policía, and the US Marshals Service. The individual was located at a hotel in the El Poblado neighborhood. After being expelled from Colombia by Migración Colombia, the fugitive was taken into custody in Miami by the US Marshals.

🗞️#EsNoticia | @MigracionCol expulsó del país a un estadounidense requerido en su país por el delito de hurto. El individuo fue ubicado en un hotel del Poblado, en Medellín, gracias a un operativo conjunto con el CTI, la @PoliciaColombia y la agencia estadounidense US Marshals. pic.twitter.com/lYGgHqi42F

— Migración Colombia (@MigracionCol) September 11, 2025

This marks another instance of international cooperation, following a similar case on August 19, in which another fugitive wanted for homicide was expelled. The director of Migración Colombia expressed via X that the “individual was located…thanks to a joint operation with the CTI (Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación), the Policía Colombia, and the US agency US Marshals.”

Stephen Paul Mueller. Photo credit: Policía Nacional de Colombia.

Uribe Turbay was later transferred to a better equipped hospital in the north of Bogotá where he underwent cranial surgery due to the gravity of his wounds. As of Sunday morning, June 8^th, Uribe’s surgery was successful, though he remains in critical condition. The CTI, Colombia’s equivalent of the FBI, and DIJIN, the national police’s investigative unit, have possession of the youth’s phone and are analyzing messages and contacts.

The following day, Sunday, June 8th, thousands took to the streets in major Colombian cities in solidarity with Uribe Turbay, expressing not necessarily support of his particular candidacy, but rejection of political violence.

Uribe is a “pre-candidate” for Colombia’s presidential elections next May. Pre-candidates are competing within their respective political parties to become the party’s official candidate for the upcoming elections. Other pre-candidates may bypass the party endorsement system by collecting enough signatures to appear on the ballot.

Uribe Turbay belongs to the Centro Democratico political party, controlled by former President Alvaro Uribe, though the two are not related. Uribe Turbay is the son of journalist Diana Consuelo Turbay Quintero, who in 1991 was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel in 1991 and died in their custody during a failed rescue attempt. In turn, Diana Turbay was the daughter of Julio César Turbay Ayala, who was president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982.

#ATENCIÓN. Se conoce un video que deja ver el momento cuando el congresista Miguel Uribe Turbay recibe los impactos de bala mientras daba un discurso en un parque del b/Modelia.

En desarrollo… https://t.co/HAlu4typX7 pic.twitter.com/d612iyMl37

— Colombia Oscura (@ColombiaOscura_) June 7, 2025

During Julio César Turbay Ayala’s administration, the M-19 rebel group attacked the Dominican embassy in Bogotá, holding several ambassadors hostage, including those from the US, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Israel, and Peru. Colombia’s current leftist President Gustavo Petro was a member of the now-disbanded M-19 guerillas.

Political repercussions

Colombia is in a state of high political tensions, as the leftist president Gustavo Petro, a former armed guerilla, is in the process of attempting to bypass the system of checks and balances and hold a referendum on his labor reforms. The labor reform bill failed to pass congress, and the referendum itself also failed to pass congress, but he is insisting on moving forward with the measure, provoking a constitutional crisis.

Miguel Uribe and his Centro Democratico party have been opponents of the president’s populist agenda, as have several other major political parties, and even a number of the president’s former ministers.

President Petro condemned the assassination attempt and ordered an investigation into Uribe Turbay’s security detail. The government is offering a reward of up to approximately $780,000 USD for information on the perpetrators. All other presidential candidates condemned the attempt and denounced the plague of political violence and common criminality that Colombia suffers from.

Supporters of Petro had called for public marches in support of the president’s proposed reforms for this Wednesday, June 11. This assassination attempt ratchets up tensions, as it recalls “El Bogotazo,” the riots and burning of Bogotá in 1948 after the assassination of presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. The assassination and the repercussions, against the context of political violence between the two main political parties—Liberals and Conservatives—of that time, were ingredients in the rise of communist armed insurgencies during the 1960s of the FARC, ELN, and EPL, and as a response, vigilante groups like the AUC, which later morphed into common mafias.

Who might want Uribe Turbay dead?

• Narcotics mafias – Uribe Turbay’s mother was a victim of Pablo Escobar’s mafia and died when he was just a toddler. He may be expected to crack down hard on these criminal organizations if elected, unlike the current administration of Gustavo Petro, who has through his policies, given them space to regroup and rebuild.
• Left-wing militants – Uribe Turbay belongs to the right-wing (despite the name) Centro Democrático political party, led by former President Alvaro Uribe, which takes a hard-line eradication policy against leftist groups like the ELN and the dissident remnants of the FARC after the 2016 peace accords. Alvaro Uribe has accumulated many political enemies, and not just left-wing ideologues. Still, the leftist militants, like the mafias, have been given space under the current administration to reorganize and strengthen their presence in Colombia. They could expect Uribe Turbay and his partisans to work to eradicate these groups once and for all.
• Current government – very unlikely, as political assassination is not a traditional modus operandi of Colombian governments. And there is no clear benefit the current administration would have by Uribe Turbay’s death. If anything, large segments of the population will blame the current administration, so such a move would not bring them any benefit, especially at the early pre-candidacy stage, where should Uribe Turbay die, it will not prevent a strong opposition candidate from emerging.
• Right-wing rivals – very unlikely, though conspiracy theories are circulating that he was either sacrificed for the effect it would have (sympathy vote), or to move a strong competitor aside for the many rivals that want to represent the opposition. At this time, without evidence, Finance Colombia discounts these theories as wild conjecture, but the thread is worth following.
• Unknown personal beef – This is surprisingly frequent, where an action that appears politically motivated, is actually to settle scores of a personal or business matter, and unrelated to political ideology or ambition. Again, unlikely, but possible.

Witness photo of a car bloodied from the senator’s wounds as rescuers struggled to render first aid.

Continue to follow Finance Colombia for updates on Miguel Uribe Turbay and the situation as it evolves.

Headline photo: Presidential candidate and Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay with his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona. (source: social media)

The alleged corruption model dates back to 2011 when Ecopetrol centralized its air transport provider selection. Since then, Helistar S.A.S. has continuously secured five-year contracts, with changing requirements seemingly adjusted to match its aging fleet. For example, while aircraft were originally required to be no older than five years, the 2022 bidding allowed for 20-year-old helicopters—a shift allegedly made to accommodate Helistar. The complaint highlights the company’s enduring ties to political figures close to President Petro, including Milton Cabeza Peñaranda, Helistar’s legal representative, and the Cabeza family’s connection to Danilo Romero, a political ally of Petro.

This now makes 3 major scandals for Roa, with the ISA presidential appointment, and President Gustavo Petro’s campaign finance irregularities.

Ecopetrol launched a bidding process to select air transport providers for the company and its subsidiaries, including Cenit and Ocensa, on August 16, 2023—four months after Roa assumed Ecopetrol’s presidency. Although the company led the design and strategy of the process, the subsidiaries retained the authority to finalize contracts. The complaint argues that only six Colombian companies were invited to participate and that submission deadlines were extremely short, sidelining potential competitors.

Bidders had less than a month to prepare, with proposals due on October 9, 2023, and operations expected to start by November 1. Many companies withdrew due to the tight timeline and the impractical requirement to upgrade their fleets within days. As Ecopetrol announced, the contract was officially signed on August 29, 2024, and divided into two parts: The majority of the demand went to Helistar for operations in Cúcuta and Soracá, while a smaller part went to Helicol for the Paz de Ariporo base.

However, seven months later, Ecopetrol abruptly canceled Helicol’s contract, citing technical and documentation shortcomings, and reassigned its share to Helistar. Helicol, represented by lawyer Julián Quintana, former director of the Technical Investigation Team (CTI, by its acronym in Spanish) of the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia, filed a criminal complaint accusing Roa and Cabeza of collusion, anti-competitive practices, and corruption. They alleged that a former Helistar employee, then working at Cenit, was involved in the decision-making process that led to Helicol’s removal. They also challenged the validity of inspection reports and the criteria used to terminate the contract.

The complaint also mentions a private lunch between Roa and Orlando Cabeza—the alleged true owner of Helistar—hosted at Danilo Romero’s apartment. Though officially denied, the event underscores alleged ties between Helistar and Colombia’s political elite, connections that an inquiry made by local website La Silla Vacia also suggests. Documents referred in the complaint link Orlando Cabeza to past drug trafficking operations, raising further concerns about his hidden involvement.

“We will denounce the alleged mafia within Ecopetrol dedicated to directing air transport contracts. Ricardo Roa must explain to the authorities how they decapitate bidders to benefit a well-off contractor,” Quintana said on X before sending the 53-page complaint. The document also accuses Helistar of submitting falsified pilot certifications and failing to meet the minimum 300 flight-hour requirement. As of May 8, 2024, Colombia’s Superintendency of Industry and Commerce formally charged Ecopetrol, its subsidiaries, and Helistar for allegedly directing contracts unfairly from 2011 to 2023.

This is just one of several investigations involving Ricardo Roa. He is also under scrutiny for his role in financing Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign and for irregularities in the appointment of Jorge Carrillo as president of ISA. While Colombia’s National Electoral Council has temporarily frozen its investigation into Petro’s campaign financing, the judicial pressure on Roa continues to mount.

Headline photo: Colombian President Gustavo Petro with Ricardo Roa (photo: ANH)

The incident occurred on November 23, 2023, in El Poblado neighborhood. According to the investigation, the woman was allegedly detained against her will by Cornish and another man, who were staying in the property. She was repeatedly assaulted to force her to disclose information about the location of a ring and money that they accused her of stealing.

According to Bogotá daily El Tiempo, the CCTV footage from the building shows the moment in which the woman is grabbed and forced into the apartment. Due to injuries the woman suffered at the hands of the men, the 42-year-old victim received a 15-day medical disability certificate after seeking medical attention. Following a judge’s decision, the Canadian was retained briefly in a Colombian jail but released.

She was repeatedly assaulted to force her to disclose information about the location of a ring and money that they accused her of stealing.

In January 2025, Cornish was finally apprehended in a coordinated operation while dining at a restaurant in the El Poblado neighborhood and pled not guilty to the charges against him. Following preliminary hearings, he was placed under preventive detention in a Medellín facility, where “he will have to face Colombian justice for the alleged crimes of aggravated kidnapping, torture and aggravated qualified theft. The supervisory judge decided to impose a security measure or deprivation of liberty in a penitentiary establishment,” Commander of the Fourth Brigade, Brigade General Jorge Ricardo Hernández Vargas, explained.

Manuel Villa Mejía, Secretary of Security and Coexistence, provided further details about the case. “Through the coordinated efforts of the Mayors’ Offices of Medellín, the military GAULA (Groups of Unified Action for Personal Freedom) of Antioquia, our National Army’s Fourth Brigade, and the CTI (Technical Investigation Corps), the arrest of Raymond Arthur JR Cornish, a 34-year-old Canadian citizen, was achieved through a judicial order.”

“We welcome everyone who visits within the framework of responsible tourism. However, those who come here to commit crimes are not welcome. The authorities have definitively returned to the city’s streets to deliver results and protect the freedom and safety.” Mejia added.

Headline Photo: Raymond Arthur JR Cornish, a 34-year-old Canadian citizen captured in Medellín (Photo: Office of the Attorney General of Colombia)

Breaking news: As of 5pm today, Armando Benedetti was spotted on a commercial flight leaving Panamá for Istanbul Turkey.

Colombian newsmagazine Semana last month first broke the news of Sarabia having accused her nanny, Marelbys Meza earlier in the year of stealing the equivalent of $7,000 cash (others report the number as $4,000-accounts conflict) from Sarabia’s apartment. Morphing from the victim to the perpetrator, Sarabia is accused of then having Meza subjected to a polygraph test, and arranging wiretaps, something that as presidential chief of staff, she would have no authority to do under Colombian law.

Colombia’s Attorney General Francisco Barbosa, appointed by the previous president, and independent of President Gustavo Petro, has already opened a criminal investigation. Petro and Barbosa have a contentious, hostile relationship.

Now, the same nanny, Meza, used to work for Armando Benedetti, as did Sarabia as his secretary, but Sarabia and Benedetti drifted apart once Sarabia dedicated herself to being Petro’s right hand as his chief of staff. Benedetti says that Sarabia sought his help in covering up the emerging “chicharron” as the press began to get wind of the story, but Sarabia accused Benedetti of leaking the story in a tantrum over his negated demand for government positions.

It seems Meza wasn’t the only one being wiretapped.  Last weekend, Semana published damning, vulgar recordings of audio messages between Benedetti and Sarabia. These are where the scandal metastasizes from a staffer abusing power to something that directly implicates President Petro himself.

Benedetti is clearly heard threatening to expose evidence incriminating Petro’s campaign for criminal funding and ties—though Benedetti himself was the campaign manager. Benedetti references a $3.4 million USD equivalent contribution, which is not accounted for in campaign finance filings. If true, that would be a criminal offense with a mandatory prison sentence in Colombia.

“I wasn’t threatening you, but I am threatening you now you son of a bitch, you and the president, do you understand? If you want me to threaten you, I will come out and reveal everything that I know, which is enough to end your world and mine, we’ll all go down. We’ll all be done. We’ll go to jail,” Bendetti is heard saying in one of the messages to Sarabia.

Once he was busted by Semana, he at first claimed that the audios were manipulated, though hours later he sort of confessed, saying that he had acted out of “weakness and sadness,” was angry, and drunk.

He sido parte fundamental del actual proyecto político del presidente Petro. Sin embargo, no satisfecho con lo que me correspondió políticamente, en un acto de debilidad y tristeza me dejé llevar por la rabia y el trago.

— Armando Benedetti (@AABenedetti) June 5, 2023

Petro was now sucked into the scandal, derailing his struggle to push through controversial legislative reforms that would remake the health, pension and labor infrastructure of the country. Petro is already struggling with a 34% approval rating and a congressional coalition that was fracturing before this. Monday, Congress tabled debates on Petro’s reforms, essentially freezing legislative progress and dissipating whatever momentum he may have had.

The scandal is already sprouting branches and shoots, too many to contain in one article. For example, Colombia’s CTI, analogous to the FBI in the US or MI5 in the UK just this morning conducted a search of offices of Colombia’s tax authority: the DIAN. However, according to news daily El Tiempo, though the building was a DIAN facility, the offices raided actually were occupied by a security organ that reported directly to the presidency, and that they would have had possession of a mirror copy of the nanny’s telephone—illegal if obtained without a proper search warrant and law enforcement involvement. The Office of the Presidency simply cannot order wiretaps, polygraphs, or detain people.

In 2008 under the administration of Alvaro Uribe, his chief of now-disbanded secret police and domestic intelligence unit the “Department of Administrative Security” (DAS), Maria del Pilar Hurtado was jailed for 14 years—ironically for wiretapping and spying on, among others, now President Gustavo Petro! Now his own administration is in jeopardy for similar accusations.

The chameleon

A career politician, Benedetti is not a consistent ideologue, but has a history of aligning himself with whoever is on the way up in Colombian politics. He opposed center-right Mayor of Bogotá Enrique Peñalosa, but then became a close supporter of former President Alvaro Uribe after the star of Horacio Serpa fell and it became apparent that Serpa would never obtain the presidency.

Benedetti became President of the Senate during the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos, and the two forged a close working relationship, even as the bond between Santos and his political patron Uribe collapsed. During the deeply unpopular presidency of Ivan Duque, Benedetti distanced himself from Duque’s allies, and his criticism of the president facilitated his growing close to far left Senator, ex guerilla, and now President Gustavo Petro. When they say “politics makes strange bedfellows,” arrangements like these are exactly what they mean!

A quickly evolving story

Today, June 7^th, Petro called on his supporters to take to the streets and protest in support of him and his initiatives. As of 5pm most marches have been reported as peaceful, though the Medellín branch of the National University has been evacuated as a small explosive device was detonated. Several major thoroughfares have been blocked in different parts of Colombia. In Barranquilla, the Defensoría del Pueblo, which is a government body charged with defending human rights, has confirmed that it is protecting journalists who were intimidated by marchers in the city.

The scandal has already caught Washington’s attention as Congresswoman Maria Salazar grilled the US State Department’s Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols on the Biden administrations response, asking Nichols to facilitate Benedetti’s admission to the US to testify on the hinted campaign irregularities that Benedetti mentioned in the recordings. Of course, no one from the US has asked or summoned Benedetti, and he has not said anything at all about going to the US for anything. In fact, he was spotted on a commercial flight this very afternoon leaving Panamá headed to Istanbul Turkey. Salazar, a representative from Miami, has been a vocal critic of Gustavo Petro.

? La crisis política en Colombia llega al Congreso de Estados Unidos: esto se discutió ▶️ https://t.co/F8JDcDz3lQ pic.twitter.com/q76379IUhA

— EL TIEMPO (@ELTIEMPO) June 7, 2023

Benedetti has an appointment with Colombia’s National Electoral Commission next Tuesday to explain his accusation about the $3.4 million USD / $15 billion COP that he bragged illegally entered the Petro Campaign that he managed. This has echoes of the $3.75 million in illegal money that went into the campaign of former Colombian President Ernesto Samper (1994-1998), sponsored by the Cali Cartel cocaine traffickers. Samper was so tainted that the US revoked his visa and temporarily cut off economic aid to Colombia while he was president. Despite his reputation, less than a decade later, President Alvaro Uribe offered Samper the ambassadorship to France, which amidst the ensuing uproar, Samper did not accept.

One unanswered question: Who recorded the audio? Who released the audio? Why was Sanabria’s voice left out?

¿Qué Sigue? (What comes next?)

If it turns out that Sarabia ordered or “encouraged” the police or presidential security operatives to wiretap, polygraph, detain, or seize the telephone data of Marelbys Meza, she would be in serious violation of Colombian criminal law, even if it turns out that Meza was in fact guilty of theft.

If the Petro campaign, managed by Benedetti, did in fact receive massive illicit revenues, it will have grave consequences for Benedetti, as well as Petro.

It remains to be seen whether Benedetti returns to Colombia from Turkey in time for his appointment with investigators next Tuesday.

The attorney general says Vagin came to Colombia in 2017 on a tourist visa, and never left. Instead he ran a criminal organization that convinced locals to rent their personal data to him to create accounts with virtual bookies and Colombian banks. Then Vagin’s collaborators in Europe would wire money into these rented accounts to make fraudulent bets on various sporting events, as directed by collaborators in Russia.

Of those arrested, Giovanna Edilma Gutiérrez Gómez, Mauricio García-Herreros Borda and Ana María Gutiérrez Gómez have already admitted their crimes, while Vagin, Gina Paola García-Herreros Borda, Cristian Leonardo Reyes Muñoz and Jorge Antonio Casas León are fighting the charges. All are in prison except for Ana María Gutiérrez Gomez, who is under house arrest.

Estas personas, capturadas por el #CTI, con apoyo de @COL_EJERCITO, fueron imputadas como presuntas responsables de los delitos de: concierto para delinquir agravado, transferencia no consentida de activos en modalidad masa, y acceso abusivo a sistemas informáticos. pic.twitter.com/WQvDJp1IKi

— Fiscalía Colombia (@FiscaliaCol) April 8, 2022

Now, an investigation by Colombia’s attorney general shows the situation is much worse than a Russian “illegal” (Sergei Vagin) paying off street thugs and vandals. According to documents leaked to Blu Radio by the Colombian attorney general’s office, an internal counterintelligence investigation has identified a Russian Colonel, credentialed as a senior joint naval and air military attaché affiliated with the “Russian Intelligence And Counterintelligence department of General Command J2,” (further referred to as “J2”) who sought to compromise Colombian Colonel Armando Rodríguez Jiménez by paying him an apartment and 200 million pesos (approximately $54,000 USD) in exchange for becoming a Russian agent and passing on Colombian, US and NATO secrets.

“The Born Identity?” — Colombian CTI documents identify “J2” as Russian Colonel Vladimir Born, appointed military attaché in 2018

“In our territory, all diplomats who come to strengthen ties are welcome, but we will also be clear, relentless and forceful with those who intend, in the exercise of diplomatic functions, to come to our country to try to interfere in the healthy development of our Colombian institutions,” said Colombian President Ivan Duque when asked last year about emerging Russian espionage allegations.

Colombia holds several military industrial events, usually every two years. F-AIR is held in Rionegro and focuses on military and civilian aviation.  Colombiamar focuses on the naval sector, and the biggest event, Expodefensa is Colombia’s biggest military expo. The last one, held in 2021 saw 228 exhibitors from 25 countries, and 62 foreign delegations from 24 different countries. Customarily, the military attachés from the Russian Embassy (pictured above) would receive invitations.

In 2019, Colonel Rodriguez was responsible for coordinating the attendance of foreign military attachés assigned to Colombia, including J2. They originally met that year at Bogotá’s Corferias convention and meeting center, but then had lunch almost a year later at a British themed restaurant called “London Calling,” facing Bogotá’s “Parque 93,” the capital city’s epicenter of expatriate residential and social life.

According to the testimony provided by Colonel Rodriguez to Colombian counterintelligence prosecutors, after small talk about personal and family life, J2 got down to business, and began by asking for details on US military activities.

J2: “Are there US troops here?”

Rodriguez: “No, not in Colombia, there can’t be armed troops, they can’t even be in transit.”

J2: “So what are they doing here?”

Rodriguez: “The gringos only give us training and instruction.”

J2: “What about the British?”

Rodriguez: “Well, it’s also Israel because they give us communications elements, and training.”

J2: “And NATO?”

Rodriguez: “No, well we are with NATO but NATO does not offer us anything, it’s about what we can offer them.”

The two went on to discuss the Russian’s career, with the J2 telling Rodriguez he comes from a military family and had served in Afghanistan and Chechnya, where he also had family ties. J2 said his wife and children were also stationed in Colombia with him. Rodriguez was curious about any tourism J2 had enjoyed in Colombia, but J2 was fixated on the Americans.

J2: “You know what they plan to give to the gringos or buy from them or give to you. You gave me to understand that there were some Russian companies that wanted to submit offers.” (Compete for contracts with the Colombian military).

According to testimony by Rodriguez, J2 then asked that he share documents on capabilities, but Rodriguez declined, saying he was focused on doctrine, not capabilities. J2 then became more blunt.

J2: “It’s that you can win, I win and you can win, it is simply to see what we can offer.”

The Venezuelan Connection

Rodriguez says J2 then asked about the possibility of Colombia invading Venezuela, to which Rodriguez said no, they were sister countries.

According to the prosecutor’s report, J2 participated in a May 2018 meeting in Moscow with Russian cyberwarfare personnel and officers of the FSB (Russian intelligence successor to the KGB) to hatch “Operation Sebastián,” a $37 million dollar plan to develop Venezuelan cyber operations, including hardware, software, and cyberdefenses, financed between a joint Chinese – Venezuelan fund.

Blue Radio indicates that J2 would direct participation in Operation Sebastián through ROSTEC, the representative in Colombia of the Russian entity ROSOBORONEXPORT, sanctioned by the US government since 2015 for violating INKSNA: The Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act. According to the attorney general’s office, Sebastián coordinates Russian espionage activities in Colombia and the activities of Russian soldiers and mercenaries currently operating in Venezuela.

Such operations would include at least four Russian signals intelligence posts established in Venezuela, by Russia, according to the Colombian government, to eavesdrop on Colombian communications and traffic.

In addition to Vagin, charges were filed against:

• Mauricio Garcia (former CTI Colombian government investigative agent)
• Giovanna Edilma Gutierrez
• Ana Maria Gutierrez
• Gina Paola Garcia
• Jorge Antonio
• Cristian Leandro Reyes

Colombia’s attorney general says Mauricio Garcia and the Gutierrez sisters have already accepted the charges against them.

The latest scandal erupts after Colombia expelled Russian spies Alexander Paristov and Alexander Nikolayevich Belousov in December of 2020 for recruiting agents and gathering information on Colombian natural resources, military capabilities, and the energy grid. Belousov was fingered as part of the notorious GRU, or Russian military intelligence, and Paristov was linked to the SVR, successor to Vladimir Putin’s own KGB.

Colombia’s then foreign minister speaking on the 2020 Russian spy exposure:

La Canciller Claudia Blum informa que el Gobierno Nacional tomó la decisión de solicitar el retiro de dos funcionarios diplomáticos rusos acreditados en Colombia. Más información aquí: https://t.co/2QeVDOuEdI pic.twitter.com/m2BfO9E4vK

— Cancillería Colombia (@CancilleriaCol) December 22, 2020

Operations carried out by Colombian counterintelligence investigators, supported by US signals intelligence have managed to record and document the activities of Vagin and a larger network of Russian operatives. Investigative reporting by Colombian daily El Tiempo reveals a vast operation pouring Russian money into Colombia with the objective of discrediting the government and destabilizing public order, in part, by funding much of the riots and civil unrest the country has experienced in the past three years.

Alias Servac

While Sergei Vagin would be an “illegal,” or a spy working outside of diplomatic cover, El Tiempo fingers “alias Servac” as a Russian spymaster operating under diplomatic accreditation. Wire intercepts, according to El Tiempo, implicate Servac in coordinating wire transfers from Russia’s Sberbank to Colombia through Western Union, then filming evidence of the riots they supposedly funded, and reporting back to a “Dimas” (Diminutive of Dimitry) in Moscow.

“We confirm that they are renting accounts, money is coming in via ‘smurfing’ just as drug traffickers,” said Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez. Smurfing is when large amounts of money are distributed across many small, unrelated accounts to disguise the source and destination of funds.

Just an innocent criminal

On Thursday, Sergei Vagin’s lawyer Francisco Gonzalez told Blu Radio that Vagin isn’t involved in financing protests but is a simple international gambling fraudster.

“Someone with a great imagination linked his nationality and the 2019 riots to ‘smurfing,’ which is appointing people to make and receive money orders from one place to another,” said Gonzalez, explaining Vagin’s innocent virtues. “People open accounts, register and enter bets fraudulently and earn a lot of money. The chance of loss is less than 10% and they beat the bookmakers.”

When news network RCN released video that Vagin himself took with rioters during civil unrest, Gonzalez called it “pure coincidence.”

En @LaNochentn24 y @NoticiasRCN revelamos pruebas de un dossier de inteligencia que acusa al ruso Sergei Vagin de ser jefe de red que desde Rusia alquila cuentas para traer dinero a Colombia. 4 días después de esta revelación fue capturado. ¿Qué hacía este ruso en las protestas? pic.twitter.com/cqKLrIe84T

— Jefferson Beltrán Neira (@JeffersonNTN24) March 30, 2022

Even if Vagin’s cover were true, he would likely be guilty of felony money laundering, tax evasion, and immigration violations. Colombia’s Information and Financial Analysis Unit accuses Vagin and his network of laundering a mammoth $146 million US dollars’ worth of Russian funds into Colombia since 2018.

Vagin is said to have entered Colombia in 2016 on a tourism visa valid for only 90 days.

Fake News

Russia’s embassy, located in a quiet area of Bogotá’s Chapinero neighborhood, issued a statement denouncing all allegations. “Mr. Vagin, he is a simple analyst who offers his services to a business of sports betting. He has no link at all to the government of Russia or this Embassy. Imagine how much money Colombian contributors would be able to save if they had cleared the suspicions of this Russian citizen across the mechanisms of interstate police action.”

“We are attentive to the detention of the Russian citizen Sergei Vagin on March 30 of 2022 by the Colombian forces of public order. We hope that the competent organs offer impartiality and adherence to the law with regards to this citizen of the Russian Federation.”

#URGENTE || En vista de la continuación de la campaña mediática local premeditada orientada a desacreditar a Rusia y lesionar las relaciones bilaterales con Colombia, la Embajada se ve obligada a comunicar lo siguiente: pic.twitter.com/PlX9jvIyua

— Rusia en Colombia (@RusiaColombia) March 31, 2022

Unsurprisingly, Russia claims it is the innocent victim in all this, publishing: “All this seems a typical example of fake news, when they try to argue the necessary and already predetermined conclusion with crazy and incoherent things. This type of fabrication and ‘leakage to the press’ shows the desire of some media to join the current Western information mainstream characterized by a high degree of Russophobia and a blind fury towards everything linked to Russia.”

Of course, the same government claimed that the imminent invasion of the Ukraine was all a lie and fabricated western hysteria as well.

National Security Implications

Yesterday, Medellín-based daily El Colombiano revealed that it had reviewed hours of recordings of restricted proceedings by Colombia’s attorney general in the case where the dossier of materials gathered were presented to Casa Nariño (Colombia’s Presidential Palace). “The citizen Vladimir, attached to the Russian embassy, ​​​​offered the colonel the sum of $200 million and the delivery of an apartment,” in an attempt to gain access to Colombia’s top secret National Weapons Acquisition Plan.

Defense minister Diego Molano in February accused the Russian military of installing five radar stations in Venezuela near the Colombian border, as relations between Casa Nariño and the Kremilin continued to deteriorate.

In 2011, French authorities say that Gomes, armed with a rifle and tear gas, stole 92,000 euros worth of jewelry in one incident in Ormesson sur Marne, France, and in another incident stole over 300,000 euros of jewels and stones in Arcueil, France.

According to Colombian prosecutors, Gomes arrived in the country in 2020, and attempting to hide from international law enforcement, in January he applied for Colombian permanent residency using  false documents, which led to the investigation resulting in his capture.

Gomes was captured in the El Poblado neighborhood of Medellín, popular with international tourists and expatriates. Prosecutors say he had been traveling back and forth to Brazil and had been communicating with narcotics mafias in the neighboring country.

The prosecutor’s office says it will work with the French government to arrange for extradition.

El extranjero fue localizado en el sector de El Poblado en Medellín (Antioquia). El procedimiento hace parte del Acuerdo de Cooperación y Ubicación de Fugitivos Internacionales suscrito entre la Fiscalía y la Agencia U.S. Marshals del Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos. pic.twitter.com/ZuCq0fxyiF

— Fiscalía Colombia (@FiscaliaCol) March 18, 2022

According to reports, at approximately 7:40 PM, Morales and his Colombian wife were leaving the exclusive El Tesoro shopping center in the Las Palmas area of Medellín, and approaching Loma de Los Balsos Avenue, a car hit their vehicle and immediately fled. As Morales left his vehicle to inspect the damage, two individuals approached on a motorcycle and shot Morales five times.

Police are offering a $40 million COP reward for information leading to capture of the assassins.

The assailant grabbed his watch and mobile phone and fled via motorcycle. Later, the car used in the accident was found in the Rodeo Alto neighborhood on the other side of the city. Deputy Commander Colonel Rolfy Jiménez said that both the police and Colombia’s investigative force, the CTI are investigating the crime and reviewing security cameras. The modality of the crime points more towards an organized killing rather than simple theft. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make criminal sense to involve three criminals and sacrifice an automobile just to steal a mobile phone and watch.

Morales was vice president of operations for Colombian outsourcer OneLink BPO, which was then acquired by global outsourcing firm Webhelp last July, giving the firm a strong presence in Colombia. His boss, Eduardo Salazar (above, left), who also is a former OneLink executive issued a statement.

“Manu was an exemplary leader, witness to the success of many, with a long history in the world of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), always present and willing to support. With clear goals, not only at work, but also in his personal life. An incredible husband, father, son and friend, who loved giving everything to see those around him happy.”

With stores like Coach, Mont Blanc and Swarovski, El Tesoro is the highest end large shopping mall in Medellin, and arguably, Colombia. It is located in the Las Palmas area, a leafy suburban district far above the tourist district of El Poblado and Milla de Oro (Golden Mile) business district. The quiet, exclusive area is hilly and not conducive to pedestrian traffic, so is not generally an area frequented by muggers and pickpockets.

Though homicide overall is at a historic low in Medellín, dropping to 14.4 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2020, there have been several high profile killings involving foreigners in the city in the past year. The US State Department has issued a travel advisory saying “Reconsider travel to Colombia due to Civil Unrest, Crime, Terrorism & Kidnapping.”

Finance Colombia notes that air travel to Colombia’s major cities and tourist destinations is generally safe for tourism, family visits, and business travel, though travelers should always assess their individual circumstances.

See also: At Least 19 Foreign Tourists Died Violently In Medellín During 2021